Breakfast in the Classroom

It’s a fact: eating breakfast at school helps children learn.  Studies show that children who eat breakfast at the start of their school day have higher math and reading scores.  They have sharper memory and show faster speed on cognitive tests.  They have broader vocabularies. They do better on standardized tests.  They focus better and behave better.

Eating breakfast at school has health benefits too.  Children are less likely to be absent. They’re less likely to see the school nurse and less likely to be overweight.  They eat more fruit, drink more milk and consume a wider variety of foods.

The Breakfast in the Classroom initiative takes the traditional school breakfast approach and improves it with one key ingredient:  the classroom.  Breakfast becomes available to everyone – no matter their income level  – and it’s served after the opening bell. This makes it easier for all children to easily participate.

The approach is simple.  Children eat together in the classroom, usually the homeroom, at the start of the school day. They enjoy nutritionally well-balanced foods like breakfast wraps, yogurt, or fruit served directly in their classroom or grabbed from a cart in the hallway.  Students then eat breakfast while the teacher takes attendance, collects homework or teaches a mini-lesson.